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Elfstone

The Elessar, translated as Elfstone in Westron, also known as Stone of Eärendil, was one, or possibly two, fabulous green gem(s) whose legends of creation are conflicting and complex.

The Elessar was green as the leaves but had the light of the Sun trapped within it; it was marveled by the Noldor, and those who looked through it were said to see the withered or aged as whole and young again. It was even claimed to grant some power of healing to its wearer.[1]

A legend says that Celebrimbor, who was in love with Galadriel, remade another version of the lost jewel with less power than the original, in the Second Age. It was made as her behest, pained at the state of Middle-earth.[1]

However another legend says that when the Wizards were sent from Valinor to Middle-earth in the Third Age, Olórin brought back Earendil's jewel as a token from Yavanna that the Valar had not forsaken them; as Gandalf, he gave it to Galadriel, and remarked prophetically that she would only hold it for a little while, before she passed it to another, who will also be called Elessar.[1]

Whatever the origins of Galadriel's Elfstone were, she gave it to her daughter Celebrían, who in turn gave it to Arwen. [1]

However by the time the Fellowship of the Ring visited the wood of Lothlórien it was again under Galadriel's possession. When the Fellowship departed and Galadriel offered them her gifts, the Elessar was the gift for Aragorn[2]. This giving held the function of a wedding gift from the family of the bride to the groom, foretelling his marriage to Arwen.[3]

The Elfstone was worn by Aragorn ever after, and this causes him to also be given the name of King Elessar by the people of Minas Tirith. He adopted it as his royal name, as Galadriel foretold.

Bilbo Baggins, during his stay in Rivendell, was urged by Aragorn to include a green jewel in his Song of Eärendil, possibly anticipating the symbolic importance that the gem would have in his life. Bilbo Baggins, obeying Aragorn but seemingly unaware of the Elfstone's story, included an inaccurate reference to an emerald.[4]